Crews Assemble Black Widow Ride At Kennywood

WEST MIFFLIN (KDKA) — If you like steep places and want to experience them from a new perspective Kennywood is the place you want to be this summer.

Slow and steady, piece-by-piece, crews from Somerset Steel Erection have been assembling the Black Widow.

“It takes a lot of time, about a week and a half to build all the legs, get everything ready – a day to get the cranes in, probably about 10 hours to actually erect the ride itself,” said Tim Tournay, of Somerset Steel Erection.

Kennywood opens for weekends on May 5 and daily on May 17, which is when the park hopes to have the Black Widow ready to go.

It is said to have many dynamic forces.

“You have the speed of back and forth with the swing; you have the weightlessness with the pendulum motion; at the highest peak, if you’re on the outer edge of the circle, you will be upside down; and we’re putting all of that together in one ride experience,” said Kennywood’s Jeff Filicko.

You will find Black Widow right next to the Pittsburgh Plunge. There are rides that are similar, like the Sling Shot, but park officials say riders will soon discover that this is a new kind of experience.

“Black Widow will seat 40 riders,” says Filicko. “A disc at the bottom of a pendulum arm. That disc will slowly begin to spin, and then it’s going to swing back and forth at 68 miles am hour, at its peak, it’s going to be just shy of 150 feet up in the air.”

Have a positive day. That's how Brenda Waters ends the weekend morning newscast she anchors.
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